Labs Investigate New Materials To Boost IC Speeds

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Motorola Labs, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have entered a cooperative research and development agreement to increase the speed of future generations of ICs.

Researchers representing the three labs will pursue new materials to overcome a fundamental physics problem that poses a threat to future semiconductor improvements. The labs believe the semiconductor industry's present ability to increase chip computing power while reducing chip size will eventually reach a standstill.

Scientists say the problem lies in the current gate insulating material, a layer of silicon dioxide approximately 35 Å thick. This "gates" the electrons, controlling the flow of electricity across the transistor. The layer must be thinned each time the chip's size is reduced.

At the current rate of progression, industry experts expect that the gate thickness will need to be reduced to fewer than 10 Å in the next 10 years. Yet silicon dioxide with a thickness of less than 20 Å is no longer able to provide effective insulation from the effects of quantum tunneling currents. This inability will cause chips to fail.

Industry experts predict that new materials must be developed with higher dielectric constants for use as effective gate insulators at thicknesses of fewer than 20 Å. These materials must also have a higher capacitance for a given thickness. Working independently, ORNL and Motorola Labs have been developing such materials in the form of crystalline oxides on silicon and other semiconductor materials.

In the first phase of this three-year agreement, details of ORNL's patented crystalline oxide on silicon process will be transferred to Motorola Labs and PNNL. The second phase includes the testing and optimization of the technology. This will ensure that critical performance issues required for alternative gate silicon technology can be achieved.

For more information on this semiconductor project, visit www.ornl.gov, www.pnl.gov, or www.motorola.com.